Dear Parents and Carers,
The sun is shining and we are all enjoying it here at school. I hope that you are too.
Easter Celebrations and Activities
This week has been extremely busy for the St Mary’s community. The week kicked off with an Easter egg hunt and craft fair at the Church Tower which I hope you all enjoyed. On Wednesday, Derek the donkey, from Spitalfields Farm started the procession at Church Lane and led the children from Nursery to Year 2 along Hornsey High Street to our Rectory Gardens site, where the children from Year 3 to Year 6 were waiting for them. The children sang along the road and waved their palm leaves and crosses at passers-by, who also enjoyed the fun. Under the watchful eye of Derek the donkey, who appreciated the lovely grassy area in front of the school, the children and the church team from Hornsey Parish Church enjoyed singing and sharing the Easter story. Without Derek the donkey, the Year 3 children performed the story of Easter at Hornsey Parish Church this morning. It was lovely for the school community to come together to end the term. Thank you to everyone who came along to join us and to those adults that helped make these memories.
Did you attend the E–Safety workshops for parents and carers?
Thank you to the parents that attended the E-Safety workshops last week. The feedback from the parents who attended was that it was very useful, albeit a little frightening, as they learned about children’s internet use, what they may be exposed to, bullying online and the general challenges of keeping children safe. It would be great to know whether it would be helpful to run any more of these workshops as this is an extremely important topic and we want to help you to make the right choices for your children by sharing information. If we have enough interest, we would happily run another session. If this is something that you would find helpful and could commit to attending, please speak to a member of the office team who will keep a list of interested parents as we plan ahead for next term.
Le Café Francais
A big thank you to Madam Williamson who organised our French Café this week. The children had a wonderful experience enjoying their pain au chocolat, croissants and juice. This is a great opportunity for children to practice their French speaking and listening and experience the French culture through food. We look forward to the children in Year 5 further experiencing the French culture on their day trip to France in June. Thanks also to Ms Vidic for pitching in to help as well.
Celebrating Sports and Creativity
We are very proud of the children who represented St Mary’s at a dance festival at Highgate School last week. We have some super talented dancers who we hope will continue to develop their skills and wow audiences as they continue through St Mary’s and beyond. As in previous years, children also entered the Haringey Basketball Cup. It was a tough competition and they didn’t come home with the cup but they did extremely well and again, made us all proud. We need to remember that talents come in many forms and by having a specialist teacher like Mr Oakley, we can nurture these, and grow possible sports people of the future! Similarly, the skills and talents of the children who play trumpets, trombones and violins have been showcased over the last two weeks. The standard is so good because of the hard work that the children put in and because of the adults that enable them to have this opportunity.
Whatever the Easter break looks like to you, I hope that you enjoy some time for yourselves and as a family. See you back in school on Tuesday 22nd April.
Best wishes
Jane O’Brien
Headteacher
